J Francho

I've used that tool Wayne linked to. Works great.

When the list is longer than my screen, it's time to prune it down. It never had all the forums in it anyway. Maybe it could have a couple added back...Flea Market comes to mind.

Deja vu?

Cayuga comes to mind, where you have to "fish through the pike" to get to the big girls.

Cal's actually has a higher documented temperature resistance than Star Drag grease, and is is also designed specifically for drags. Personally, both brands are extremely "sticky," and I'd say Shimano's drag grease feels thicker than Cal's. Either way, I haven't noticed any difference in durability or performance of either. At any rate, I exclusively use Carbontex drags in all my reels, and 98.2% of the time, I run them dry. Works for me.

I noticed it too. The only time I ever used the subforum drop list was to get to the Flea Market. Otherwise, I use the View New Content link.

Honestly, I lose more tungsten to pike than hard baits. That's not to say I haven't been bitten off, though - maybe twice in the past few years. Pike LOVE Ragetail baits, and I keep a spool of Cortland Toothy Critter around for when the pike are prowling. Most often though, if I'm catching big pike, I'll move. I feel like the bigger pike drive bass out of the area.

I don't use braid.

If anything, I've set aside some gear to sell. I'll need to restock on some plastics, and I'll need some spinnerbaits too, but really, unless the pike have gone on the rampage, I have more than enough hard baits. Let's hope for Lucky Craft's sake, pike-pocalypse never happens, lol.

If it's a deep spool, and the line is expensive, I will use a backer. I don't like the feel of a knot when casting, so if it's a shallow spool, then I'll forgo the backer. With braid, I always use a few yards of mono to keep the braid from slipping on the spool. I can't tell you how many "broken" reels I've fixed because the drag didn't work.

I was pier fishing several years and, and was caught in some lightning. The pier was about 3/4 mile long, and lightning was crashing all around between me and shore. I had another day in a tin can rental - a little 12' semi-v with an 8.8 hp tiller - on Sodus Bay. It was a little windy, so we fished behind the islands all day. When we went to head south to the marina/baitshop, there were sixers in the bay from a stiff north wind. I basically "surfed" a a couple big rogue waves back to the south end. not much scares me, but I was a little concerned. I made my buddy put his PFD on, and told him to hang on. We made it back, a little wet, but alive, and the rental boat was none the worse for wear. This past summer Paul (Blue Daksi) and I narrow missed getting caught in some really nasty stuff in Lake Ontario. We literally outran the storm, ripping from the lake into Port Bay, through the outlet at speeds well over 70 mph. The storm hit as we pulled the boat up off the ramp. Keep in mind, there were some small passing storms to the south all day, but on the water, it was calm. This one came in from the north, and was nuts. Unfortunately, despite some great smallmouth action earlier, we couldn't get back out on the water. One of the passing storms, to the south: Here's what it looked like just moments after pulling out. In the bay: In the lake:

I made a left turn once, when I should have made a right turn. It took me a few minutes to get my bearings straight.

You can use drag grease on the gears. Your gears will move as fast or slow as you turn the handle. I personally do not like Reel Butter for anything.

Fish team format tournaments, and this is never an issue.

1. No. 2. You can order Shimano Star Drag or Cal's Drag Grease. I don't see too much performance difference between either.

I have a couple racks that use this design, and it works VERY well.

There's several Youtube videos out there that detail some simple designs. Some are ugly, some are elegantly simple. Here's a couple posted here: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/124355-home-made-economical-rod-racks/

They either fit or they don't. If they are the same size, then there is no issue.

This is from too much torque on the handle nut. As you found, light filing is a quick cure.

My only requirements are: relatively light high IPT multi-washer drag stack that can be upgraded to Carbontex front drag I use three Shimano Stradic CI4, 2x2500 and a 3000 series.

Really treat them well, lol.

There are some people you just don't mess with. People that prepare your food and the ones that fix are your toilet are two at the top of the list.

As a non boater, I am there to catch fish and help upgrade the bag. As a boater, if my non boater can upgrade the bag, I'm thrilled. Losing fish happens to everyone, regardless of whether you own a boat or not.

I kept waiting for that kid in the video to bury a jig in his eye.

All my fingers are in front of the trigger, with the rod between my index and middle finger. I rest my index finger just in front of the reel, by the level wind guard, and my thumb on top of the reel. I use a very small profile reel, a Daiwa Alphas, though I'm also comfortable using a Zillion.